Friday, December 12, 2008

Attorney Says Remains Seem to Be Caylee

A corpse has been tentatively identified as missing toddler Caylee Anthony's, attorneys for her mother told a Florida judge on Friday.

Lawyer Linda Kenney Baden said in court that investigators said they "were proceeding as if this were little Caylee Anthony."

Investigators have "tentatively" identified remains found in central Florida as those of missing Florida girl Caylee Anthony, lawyers for the girl's mother told a judge on Friday. One of the attorneys said that strands of hair found with the remains matched the toddler's, adding that investigators said they "were proceeding as if this were little Caylee Anthony," CNN reports.

Strands of hair found with the remains, found Thursday a half mile from the home of Caylee's grandparents, are the same color as the 3-year-old's, the lawyer said. The age and measurements also were a match for Caylee, Baden added.

Attorneys were in court seeking access to the remains and other forensic evidence.
Casey Anthony, 22, is charged with killing her daughter, but her lawyers insist she is innocent.

Prosecutors said the request was premature, given that the remains have not been positively identified. The defense countered that a tentative identification had been made.

Overnight, investigators searched the home of Caylee's grandparents and took several bags of potential evidence, Orange County, Florida, Sheriff Kevin Beary said Friday morning.

Caylee often lived in the house with her grandparents and her mother, who was arrested in October and charged with murder.

Investigators "concluded there were certain things they wanted to be looking for" and searched the home, Beary said in an interview broadcast on ABC News.

Caylee has been missing since June in a case that has received national attention.
The remains were taken to the county medical examiner's office and will be sent to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, Beary said Thursday.

Meanwhile, investigators Friday continued searching the area where the remains were found.

Casey Anthony's lawyers filed an emergency motion asking that their experts be present for any forensic testing done on the remains.

CNN affiliate WFTV-TV reported that the utility worker, a meter reader, picked up a bag at the site Thursday morning and a skull fell out.

The region had previously been searched as part of the investigation into Caylee's disappearance, he said, but the spot where the remains were found -- some "45, 50, 60 feet back" -- was flooded and underwater at the time. No clothes were found with the remains, he said.

Casey Anthony remains in protective custody and has no contact with other inmates, corrections officials said.

"She has been seen by a Corrections Health Services psychologist and her status was reviewed," officials said in a statement, adding she was on psychological observation -- which is not the same as suicide watch.

Casey Anthony's trial, originally set for early January, has been postponed until at least March. Prosecutors said earlier this month they would not seek the death penalty against Casey Anthony. She could face a sentence of life in prison if convicted.

Authorities have said Casey Anthony waited about a month before telling her family that Caylee was gone. Cindy Anthony -- Caylee's grandmother and Casey Anthony's mother -- called the Orange County sheriff's office on July 15, saying her daughter would not tell her where Caylee was.

When questioned by police, Casey Anthony gave conflicting statements, including some that were later disproved, according to hundreds of documents and investigative reports released in the case.

She claimed she dropped Caylee off with a babysitter, but when police checked out her story, they learned that the address Casey Anthony supplied belonged to an apartment that had been vacant for weeks. The woman Casey Anthony named as her babysitter told police she did not know her.

Investigators previously have said that cadaver dogs picked up the scent of death in Anthony's car, as well as in her parents' back yard. They also said air quality tests conducted by the FBI found evidence consistent with human decomposition and chloroform in the car's trunk. A neighbor told police Anthony had asked to borrow a shovel. advertisement
Analysis of Anthony's computer found she had visited Web sites discussing chloroform and had done Internet searches of missing children, according to information released in the case.
Cindy and George Anthony, the child's grandparents, and Casey's parents. have said they believe the girl is still alive and that someone has her.

CNN's John Couwels and "Nancy Grace" Producer Natisha Lance contributed to this report.Attorney Says Remains Seem to Be Caylee <>
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